Once washed, the leaves can be mixed into fruit and green salads, torn and sprinkled over omelets, soups, and curries, or folded into tomato-based dishes. Blue Spice basil can also add flavor to pesto, marinades, and dressings, or it can be muddled into liquors, sparkling beverages, lemonade, and tea.
What does blue Spice basil taste like?
About Basil ‘Blue Spice’
The flavor has the quintessential licorice flavor of sweet basil but with notes of vanilla, spice, and lemon. Its unique flavor profile lends itself well to tomato, eggplant, and zucchini dishes as well as meat, fish, and cheese dishes.
What can I do with lots of fresh basil?
How to Use Basil
- Top whole leaves onto pizza.
- Finish pasta with whole or thinly sliced leaves.
- Blend it into sauces.
- Puree it into soups.
- Chop it up to add to a salad.
- Use it to garnish avocado toast.
- Turn it into an ice cream topping! Jazz up vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries, basil, and a balsamic reduction.
Is African blue basil the same as Thai basil?
Thai basil is the one you find in Asian dishes, where its purple/green leaves give a hint of anise. It’s similar in flavor to African Blue basil, a tender perennial. Both are more camphorous than soft-leaved basils, so most people find the taste inferior.
What do you use blue Spice basil? – Related Questions
Can you cook with African blue basil?
I enjoy pesto I make from it, and everyone I know who has used it has agreed it makes great pesto. Perhaps the inedibility myth began with the Wikipedia article on African blue basil, which says that “high camphor content can interfere with its use in cooking.
Is African blue basil good to eat?
All parts of the flower, leaves and stems are edible; although some might find the camphor scent too strong for use in the kitchen, the herb reportedly yields a tasty pesto with a “rich, mellow flavor” and can be used as a seasoning in soups and salads, particularly those featuring tomato, green beans, chicken, etc.
What basil is similar to Thai basil?
Some recipes call for Thai basil, a pungent variety that can be hard to find in grocery stores. To duplicate its flavor, use common “Italian” basil and add a few fresh mint sprigs to the recipe.
What is closest to Thai basil?
If you can’t find Thai basil, you can substitute sweet basil, but it will lack its distinctive grassy and spicy flavor. If you are to substitute, supplement the sweet basil with mint to make up for this loss of flavor.
Does Thai basil have another name?
Thai basil may sometimes be called chi neang vorng, anise basil or licorice basil, in reference to its anise- and licorice-like scent and taste, but it is different from the Western strains bearing these same names.
What else is Thai basil called?
Thai Basil (Queenette / Siam Queen / Anise Varieties), Asian Sweet Basil, Purple Basil. Botanical Family & Name. Lamiaceae, Ocimum Spp.
Can Thai basil be eaten raw?
Thai basil is wonderful eaten raw, slivered, and added to salads, both your plain old cucumber-tomato salad or something meaty like northern Thai larb. But its hardy leaves stand up especially well to cooking—their flavor infuses readily into food and the leaves don’t wilt quite as much as Italian sweet basil’s would.
Can you use Thai basil like regular basil?
Can you substitute Thai basil for sweet basil? Not really. The strong anise flavor of Thai basil makes it incomparable to sweet basil in terms of flavor.
Can I freeze fresh Thai basil?
Freezing Thai basil leaves is one of the best ways and to preserve them when you have an abundance. It’s also one of the easiest ways to do it. Simply wash the whole basil leaves and dry them thoroughly with a paper towel. Then, place them on a baking sheet in a single layer and put them in the freezer.
Is it better to freeze basil or dry it?
Is your garden overflowing with basil? You can dry it or freeze it, but freezing retains the fresh taste better. Before you start, wash basil in cold water and dry; a salad spinner works well for this step.
How do you winterize Thai basil?
Remove the leaves from the stems. Wash the leaves and dry them with a paper towel. Then gather them in bunches and wrap the stems with a twist tie. Hang them upside down for a week or two and then break the leaves off the stems into an airtight container and you will have dried basil for the winter.
Why should you not refrigerate fresh basil?
Although certain herbs, such as parsley and cilantro or coriander, can be stored this way in the fridge, basil does better at room temperature. Refrigeration can turn the leaves black.
Can you freeze fresh basil to use later?
Simply chop leaves, stuff them into ice cube trays, cover with cold water, and freeze. The frozen basil bits will turn black as soon as they thaw, but they will still taste like basil. Frozen basil cigars are a great way to store basil with large leaves that can hold up to brief blanching.
What is the best way to preserve fresh basil?
Go ahead and remove the leaves from the stems. Wash and dry the leaves, using either a paper towel or a salad spinner. Wrap the basil leaves in a dry paper towel and place inside a plastic bag. Seal and store for one to two weeks.
How long does basil last after picked?
Wrap a paper towel around the basil and place it in an airtight container or a ziplock plastic bag. Store it in the vegetable crisper alongside other salad greens. Basil should last about two weeks when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can you get food poisoning from basil?
While fresh herbs do not naturally contain bacteria that can make you ill, they can become contaminated because they are grown close to the ground. Eating fresh herbs that have been contaminated with harmful bacteria can make you sick.